Home Charger advice needed please

[Marmaduke 1169]

Apologies for the long post

I moved home in September and left my wallbox at the old house as the buyer had an EV

So I decided to go with British Gas rather than Octopus when I moved and ordered the Hive EO Mini Pro 3 which was fitted on 1st December,it worked fine for the first charge then went into fault mode , I called them and they did a hard reset ,I didn't use it for a week as I was working from home

When I did use it again it again charged overnight and went into fault mode after the charge had finished

So when I called BG they said it's down to the DNO (Northern Power grid ) as not enough volts were coming into the property (215 volts were reading on the charger) so that's why it faulted

So I then had to call Northern Power grid and to be fair they had someone out within 2 hours
They checked my incoming power and said it was 232 volts and said it was BG's problem and not theirs and left

So I again called BG and they were a little unhelpful and insisted that I need to go back to the DNO and insist that that they monitor the voltage over a few days and not just on one visit

Does this sound right ? I would expect them to liaise with the DNO and not me or am I being unreasonable as I feel like I'm stuck in the middle when I have paid to have a charger installed and working ( not that I've paid yet )

Any advice would be greatfully received

 

[Adopado]

So I then had to call Northern Power grid and to be fair they had someone out within 2 hours
They checked my incoming power and said it was 232 volts and said it was BG's problem and not theirs and left

Did they check your supply under load? (It may be at a satisfactory 232V until you start pulling 7.4kW) Some charge points don't seem to be too picky ... I charged at my friend's house and it dipped as low as 207V without cutting out...I was actually surprised that the car didn't baulk at that...

 

[Jason71]

I kind of agree that a single check on the voltage is not ideal. it does need to be monitored over a longer period.
Stuck in between the DMO and BG is not a great threesome to be in.
I would contact the DNO again about voltage monitoring but if they are difficult about it I also would also concider getting my own monitor / logger then you can go to whomever with the evidence. I suspect you can get one quite cheaply.
this for example can measure your voltage but not sure if it logs it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Current-Transformer-Electricity-Automation/dp/B0CF9P11GZ/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1JU2K2VIPDMTR&keywords=tuya%2Bsmart%2Belectric%2Bmeter&qid=1703257904&sprefix=tuya%2Bsmart%2Belectric%2Bmeter%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-5&th=1

 

[Jason71]

Did they check your supply under load? (It may be at a satisfactory 232V until you start pulling 7.4kW) Some charge points don't seem to be too picky ... I charged at my friend's house and it dipped as low as 207V without cutting out...I was actually surprised that the car didn't baulk at that...

That seems logical but for most people the car charger is the biggest load they have and yet the op said it errored at random times rather than when he was actually charging which makes me think it might not be related to his usage but still worth looking at.
@Marmaduke 1169 do you have anything that draws more load than the car e.g. an electric shower?

 

[Adopado]

If you want to have an idea of voltage over the period of a charge just download the Tessie app. It has a free introductory period even if you don't continue with it afterwards. And if you need a referral code .. (just showing the voltage the car is seeing obviously)

Strange that it faulted AFTER the charge ... it does seem odd.

 

[Roger20]

@Marmaduke 1169 - are you on a shared supply with a neighbour or in a rural location near the end of a line?

 

[Jason71]

@Marmaduke 1169 - are you on a shared supply with a neighbour or in a rural location near the end of a line?

I lived in a random normal street once, not rural or end of line ( that I know of) where people used to talk about "the day the voltage dropped" because one day the voltage in the road dropped dramatically and everyone stuff litterally went up in smoke.
I thought they were exaggerating until it happened again.....
I am not sure exactly how low it went but litterally anything in the street turned on when up in smoke. as in smoke pouring out of the back of TV's and hifi systems etc. I had some pretty decent surge protectors which ( to the surprise of the guy from the DNO) actually saved a lot of my stuff but I still lost the microwave, freezer and alarm system. Most lost a lot more. DNO paid to replace everything though which was nice since all three of the above were pretty old and I got shiny new ones. Very bizarre though.

 

[Roger20]

I lived in a random normal street once, not rural or end of line ( that I know of) where people used to talk about "the day the voltage dropped" because one day the voltage in the road dropped dramatically and everyone stuff litterally went up in smoke.
I thought they were exaggerating until it happened again.....
I am not sure exactly how low it went but litterally anything in the street turned on when up in smoke. as in smoke pouring out of the back of TV's and hifi systems etc. I had some pretty decent surge protectors which ( to the surprise of the guy from the DNO) actually saved a lot of my stuff but I still lost the microwave, freezer and alarm system. Most lost a lot more. DNO paid to replace everything though which was nice since all three of the above were pretty old and I got shiny new ones. Very bizarre though.

In the 60s my wife's parents lived in a rural spot at the end of the line. On a Sunday when everyone was cooking Sunday dinner the electric bar fire would glow a very dull red and the telly would roll

 

[WannabeOwner]

Some charge points don't seem to be too picky ... I charged at my friend's house and it dipped as low as 207V without cutting out

My Tesla charger has never dropped out (for low voltage) that I can remember

But my Zappi often drops out for low voltage ... obviously both have the same voltage to contend with (unless Tesla has a proper trick up its sleeve )

 

[pdk42]

The best way to see if your voltage is dropping significantly with load is simply to observe the voltage shown in the app as the car starts charging. You’ll see the current increase up to 32A (assuming single phase 7kW) and the voltage will drop as it does so. But it should not be more than about 10V or so.

 

[Adopado]

My Tesla charger has never dropped out (for low voltage) that I can remember

But my Zappi often drops out for low voltage ... obviously both have the same voltage to contend with (unless Tesla has a proper trick up its sleeve )

Yes, I've known the Tesla complain about voltage drops in the past (in the form of a notification) but not actually stop the charge. (I found that the Zappi had been cooking one of its internal connections ... new Zappi came in the post!)

 

[Gnomeface]

A bit of an aside, really, but I joined British Gas in early November. I've spent hours on the phone since, trying to get them to put right the incorrect tariff rates on my account, but they have bungled it every time. I've now dumped them and joined Octopus.
I wish you luck trying to get British Gas to solve this..

Have you considered buying a plug-in volt meter that would allow you to monitor the supply voltage yourself?

 

[pdk42]

A bit of an aside, really, but I joined British Gas in early November. I've spent hours on the phone since, trying to get them to put right the incorrect tariff rates on my account, but they have bungled it every time. I've now dumped them and joined Octopus.
I wish you luck trying to get British Gas to solve this..

Have you considered buying a plug-in volt meter that would allow you to monitor the supply voltage yourself?

I’ve generally had good customer experiences with Octopus. I think they’re a well run company.

 

[RedMod3]

That seems logical but for most people the car charger is the biggest load they have and yet the op said it errored at random times rather than when he was actually charging which makes me think it might not be related to his usage but still worth looking at.
@Marmaduke 1169 do you have anything that draws more load than the car e.g. an electric shower?

I'm pulling 95A on single phase at night and the voltage never drops below 230V when it is normally around 243V.

 

[pdk42]

I'm pulling 95A on single phase at night and the voltage never drops below 230V when it is normally around 243V.

Jeez - 95A at 230V is 22kW. What the hell are you doing in the hours of darkness?

 

[RedMod3]

Jeez - 95A at 230V is 22kW. What the hell are you doing in the hours of darkness?

Charing Powerwalls, using the immersion, charging my Model 3 and running the heat pumps to keep us warm, that’s peak usage. Now with no grid draw it’s 240.8 and last night drawing 13kW it was 236.7. I never go below 230V.

 

[PITA]

Mwwwwwaaaaaahahaha

 

[PITA]

Charing Powerwalls...

Yep, that's one way of describing it

 

[pdk42]

Mwwwwwaaaaaahahaha

View attachment 1002702

Wow.

 

[pdk42]

Since we're talking about power... We have a really poor supply at our property. Ever since I got an EV in 2019 (Model 3) I've struggled with low voltage when pulling 32A on a single phase. I've seen voltages recently dipping under 200V with just the car charging. I complained over three years ago to the DNO and so far, despite endless e-mails and two visits to the property to look at options, nothing has been done. In fact, the situation has been getting worse, I guess due to other residents in the village getting EVs. On most nights, the Tesla would throttle to 24A and would record a warning about voltage fluctuations. On rare occasions, it would even completely stop charging, esp if something meaty was turned on in the house (like the oven).

But thankfully I've found a way out - the supply termination here is actually three phase, with just a single phase being used. After a long journey involving getting a three phase smart meter installed and finally last week, a three phase charge point, I'm now reliably getting 11kW charging. The car reports voltages of 230V or so whatever I seem to use in the house, so it looks like I've solved the problem for the time being.

But it's really frustrating dealing with a DNO over issues like this. They freely admit that the supply is weak, but they do not want to spend the money to fix it. They hide behind landowner way-leaves, access difficulties etc. I've tried pulling the "statutory supply" card, but their response is usually to say that my original charger installation did not obtain the necessary approvals (unknown to me) so the fix is actually for me to remove it!

It seems that a lot of older, semi-rural properties have these sort of problems. The supply was installed back when demands for power were much lower than they are now.